Reject the Blade
The Grass Plain The day was as beautiful as ever, the sun shined, the skies were blue. Srub Island, a summer island located in Paradise, was known for its clear skies and its beautiful scenery. Their grasslands were perfect, almost greater than any other island located in Paradise. The island, more specifically, its northern plane was being occupied by a young man who'd been lying in the grass, gazing at the skies above. His face was covered by his hair, but the short buzz cut on the sides gave him away easily. Dragon D. Dexter, a young rookie pirate who allied himself with the Titan Pirates. Like most pirates in the world, Dexter had his own goal; to one day find the . He felt in and out of fantasizing what he'd do once he'd gotten the fruit or even his reaction for that matter. He knew one thing for certain, so long as he was under the banner of Raptor D. Baron, he'd soon find it. He continued to lie in the grass, hands behind his head and looking up at the clear skies. "Damn, Alden. Shouldn't we be getting back to the ship soon?" Every Hastings, a young doctor and historian followed behind the drowsy looking, blackhaired man along the island. His companion in adventuring, Pabasa Alden. "What a beautiful place..." The 'tourist' muttered to himself, completely dismissing anything Hastings was saying. He walked through a field of grass. The emotionless man stuffed his hands in his pockets and began to hum a very out of tune rendition of a song he learned in Alabasta. Hastings huffed from behind him. "You just aren't going to listen, are you?" He sighed. Alden turned around, walking backwards, misstepping a bit and almost falling back, but catching himself. "Of course I'm listening! You" he said in a particularly singsong voice, "are just being a sharlona. So I'm choosing to ignore you." He quickly turned back around, "C'mon, Hastings, smell the damn flowers for once! What's the point of setting off to see the world, if all you want to do is be in the boat and get to the next island, huh?" The two continued to bicker, quite loudly as they made their way up through the grasslands of the island. Still lying on the grass plain, daydreaming about his potential perks of the Ope Ope no Mi. "Ope Ope no Mi, the fruit'll be with me... Damn right.." He rhymed, throwing his hand up into the air and fixing his fingers to take on a rockstar pose. He then lifted a piece of paper lying next to him over his face. On the paper, was Dexter and two other people on his sides and it read: DEXTER PERFORMING LIVE AS HE RETURNS TO WANO! He began to reflect on his past, but just before he could he was interrupted by the loud talking of two approaching men. Lifting himself up, he bent his knee so that he could see the two men who'd been approaching. Honestly, all he could see, due to the reflection of the sun was their body build and hair color. Regardless, there was two of them, BOTH making noise he did not want to hear. "Shit, fans?!" Dexter laid back down and placed his paper to his side. He tried to imagine himself being a chameleon and blending in with the grass as though. "Please don't spot me." "You're still not listening to a word I'm saying, Alden!" Hastings yelled. Alden now had his hands over his ears and a stupid grin on his face as he walked with his eyes closed. "Come back here, dumbass!" "Kuhahahahaha..." Alden snickered as he walked away, and opened his eyes to see looked at the man laying on the grass. Hastings was still behind him, catching up furiously. As he approached Alden, he looked as though he were going to throw an angry punch, the man simply rose a hand beside his head and pointed at the man laying on the grass. His hand purposely raised, and rejected ''Hastings when his forehead made contact with it. He was sent flying back, sliding through the glass. "Look," Alden said, "A hermit, like us." "THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" was all Hastings responded with, rubbing his bruised forehead. "Hey, Hastings. You know what would be funny? Gather a bunch of bugs around him." Alden snickered, where Hastings replied, "HELL FUCKING NO!" as Alden noticed the paper beside him. "Dexter..performing...live...as...he..returns...to...Wahno?" ''Man...reading is hard...''Alden sighed and looked at the guy. "Hiya.." Dexter remained still, but his thought process continued to move. ''"Damn.. and I thought I could get away." Dexter opened his eyes to gaze at the skies above like he had been doing once before. After five minutes of complete silence, he finally spoke. "Just keep walkin' I don't wanna' sign any autographs right now, please." His eyes still closed he took a deep breath. "But here," He reached for the paper lying next to him and picked it up handing it to black haired man of the duo. "You can tell your friends that I touched it or something." Alden stared blanky at the piece of paper. He looked back at Hastings, who was approaching slowly and still rubbing his forehead. The black haired, drowsy looking man looked down at the golden eyed, mohawk boy. Am I supposed to know this guy? "Uhhh," he looked at the paper and then back at the boy. "Who are you?" His eyes were blank, he had absolutely no clue who he was talking too. "You know this Dexter guy? Is he famous?" "I think he is this Dexter character," Hastings groaned, catching up to speed quite quickly to Alden's train of thought, which was quite slow. "Oh," Alden's gaze was still blank, "You famous or something, kid?" A lightbulb clicked in Dexter's head. And while his smile couldn't be seen by the two individuals nearby, it was etched into his head. "No, no I'm not." He responded, lifting himself up to stand to his feet. Tightening the grip of his sword on his hip, he turned his back to the two men and headed towards the opposite direction. "Well, I'll see you two later." Alden watched him for a moment, before starting after him. "So you're not famous, but you're on tour, and you don't want to sign any autographs, huh?" Hastings sighed, there were far more things the two needed to do than pester some kid they found on an island. None the less, he followed Alden. "From that blade," The blonde man added, "You must be a pirate, huh?" He mentioned this, not seeing anything that would tell him this boy was a marine or knight of such. "Well, Dexter," Alden added in, simply going along with Hastings' deduction. "Might as well introduce ourselves. I'm Pabasa Alden, a tourist." he pointed to his chest with his thumb, and then pointed back to Hastings, "This is my companion, Every Hastings." The blonde haired man waved just slightly before stuffing his hands back into his pocket. "You must be pretty strong if you're a pirate out on his own, eh?" Dexter stopped in his tracks, but he did not turn to face the two men. "I'm on tour but I'm not famous, yes." He's first responded to Alden's question, with the utmost amount of sarcasm that he could apply. Gripping his sword, he tilted it a bit. This was an action of possible irritation, if not just trying to tighten it around his waist. "A rookie pirate would be more correct. I am powerful, if not in my sword skill, by the fact that I fly that Jolly Roger of Captain' Baron's crew, the Titan Pirates. My name is Dragon D. Dexter. If this, Hastings is your companion, that means he's a member of your crew no?" Dexter turned around and his senses clicked. "In that case.. I will cut you both down where you stand. To aviod any future problems with Captain Baron." Swiftly pulling his blade from its sheath, he revealed its fine structure. It was the average size of a katana. The hilt was red with gold diamonds along the sides. The crossguard was in the shape of a wide four-leaf clover but was golden in color. Along the blade of it, there was a black flame-like design to it. Slowly it became coated in darkness, courtesy of his Busoshoku Haki. "Well then, quite the strange turn of events." Hastings grinned a bit. Alden stared at the sword, and in the most overly dramatic way possible, but still with a blank face, flung his hands up into the air. "Hey hey hey! Hold on a second kid! Don't go waving that sword around! That thing's dangerous!" It was as if every comment he had made before, noticing the sword as well as the fact the kid was a pirate went out the window. "You could poke your eye out with that thing if you aren't careful!" He activated his abilities over his arm, the boy unable to see it, but Alden was ready to counter if he made any moves. The young pirate ignored everything the two had been saying. His reasoning for wanting to cut the two down was more than just becoming obstacles for Baron but moreso for a goal much greater than that. Dexter leaned forward and dropped all of his weight into his fall, increasing the speed at which he fell. Inches before making contact with the ground, he'd seemingly gotten control of his body and lunged himself forward at Hastings with a tremendous amount of speed. He closed the gap between himself and Hastings in a matter of two seconds leaving nothing but a blur of himself behind confusing his opponents, as he mumbled "Amaterasu Kata — Hiraishin." Now underneath Hastings, Dexter swiped upwards with his blade, aiming to cut Hastings from his stomach on up to his chin and finally his face. Hiraishin was a technique from the Amaterasu Kata collection, it required absolute body control and relaxation in order to complete. By falling down and sprint forward, Dexter uses the force of his gravity to increase his speed an close the gap with ease. Attacking from under was the smartest move. As doing so, Dexter would be attacking his opponent from one of the most unprotected spots, leaving Hastings open for an easy strike. Hastings didn't see it coming, he slipped back when the man began to fall, but his unbelievable speed caught Hastings off guard to quick to release any insects. He slipped back enough and attempted to move his head out of the way, but the sword reached his jaw, and ran up his cheek. Blood shot out from his cheek and he slipped back even more. "Well damn, this kid isn't messing around at all. Shoulda been more careful Hastings." Alden gave a sigh of disappointment. Hastings couldn't talk, he was far too busy shouting in pain. Pores opened up all over his body, and insects of various types began to circle around him in an orb shaped swarm. A black coating ran along them. "Now kid," Alden activated his legs and stomach, covering his arms with busoshoku in return in case the kid did anything funny. "Hastings isn't much of a fighter, I'm the one who does most of the leg work, so if you could be a doll and play swords with somebody who actually enjoys hurting others? That would be grand." After completing his slash, Dexter had already moved on to what his next move would be. He'd disregarded the man's words as he wasn't her for subtle chit-chat. Flipping the hilt of his blade to the side so that the blade was aimed at Alden, he pushed against the end of the hilt and turned his left arm counterclockwise, spinning his blade as he did and thrusting forward with a tremendous amount of physical strength. "Ryūkiba Kata — Ryūtsume." The wind began to gather around his rotating arm, changing the course of the flow around his arm altogether. This was just a testament to how much force he placed behind the thrust, literally that of a dragon's biting down on its prey with its fang. Due to how close the three were to each other, he need not make any extra moves to be able to reach and stab Alden. He aimed his blade at the man's rib, more to the side rather than the stomach, where Alden neglected to coat himself in haki. Alden took the blow, clenching as the blade skid against his side. Being this close to the boy, he took the chance and swung his haki-infused fist into his opponents stomach himself before taking a few steps back. "Damn, this is why I hate swords." He chuckled a bit as he held his wound with his hand. "Too bad I don't have my shaft with me, or I would be beating you silly with it. Kuhahahaha..." He winced, beginning to take the boy's abilities into consideration and activating his Kenbunshoku Haki. "And here I thought you were the combatant." Dexter snarled, placing his sword over his shoulder allowing the blood to drop at the end of the blade then to the ground. Dexter's strike literally left a whole in Alden's side and watching the blood leak from it was a level of satisfaction for him. There seemed to be a gap between their power. A young boy, seventeen in age had been besting a grown man in sheer swordplay alone. With one attack, the boy had dealt a fatal blow to his elder. At first glance it looked bad, but with a deeper understanding, it would make more sense. Dexter, while an ally of the Titan Pirates, was originally from Wano Country. He'd been trained in the art of swordplay for over fifty percent of his life. The image of his sensei, Yoshitsune, flickered back and forth in his head. A man about six feet eight inches tall, slim, body covered by his a white haori with a black flame design towards the bottom. The man responsible for teaching him his arts and considered a master and well respected across the Country of Wano. Dexter was this man's sole student, every ability and technique he knew, was if not used by the boy it was known to him without a doubt. Even then, there were things that set Yoshitsune apart from Dexter, and that was experience and his special spatial devil fruit, the Suki Suki no Mi. "I'd suggest taking this seriously. If you can't hang with my basic swordplay, you'd never be able to withstand my Ope Ope no Mi power." He boasted, declaring that Alden and Hasting would not be able to defend against his devil fruit power. "Kuhuhuhahahahaha..." Alden laughed. "There are three things you don't seem to understand kid." He put up a finger. "One: I'm not a pirate, don't bunch me up with them. I'm a tourist. But, like a High-Risk Tourist. " he held up another finger. "Number Two: I don't take a damn thing seriously, never have, never will." Alden smirked awkwardly, staggering a bit while clutching his wound, and holding up his third finger. "Number Three: This right here? This is nothing, 'tis but a flesh wound." ''He joked, "Now c'mon, kid. You obviously know how to play with that toy sword, why don't you show me what you can really do." His Kenbunshoku still active, Alden quickly used his scarf to bind up his wound, wrapping it tightly around his stomach. He got into a stance, activating his ''rejection on his palms and facing them out towards the boy. "Toy sword?" Dexter question, pulling his sword from off his shoulder and pointing it at Alden, showing him its fine craft. "This is, Tenrairyu, the Heavenly Thunder Dragon blade. This toy has mortally wounded you.. and you trying to wrap it up by those bandages won't stop you from the handicapped position you are in." Alden's stance changed, he wasn't as sloppily standing as he was before. He had posture and looked as though he now had a purpose for this battle. "Your inability to take things seriously will be your downfall." "Fucking hell, today has made quite the turn. Note to self: Listen to Hasting's when he wants to get to the ship." Alden made a mental note. He might have not had his staff on hin, but he still had a pouch full of needles. Quickly and stepping back a bit, he pulled three needles out between his fingers, deactivating his rejection in one hand. He curled up his fingers and flicked his wrist back, letting the needles slide back between them. Just as they were about to slip right out, he activated his rejection along his fingers and let them shoot out towards the boy, before taking a step forward, careful not to follow up too quickly. All the Cards Dexter kept his eyes peeled in his opponent. He'd have noticed ever action Alden made, let it be something as small as altering his breathing pattern. He noticed when, before allowing the needles to fly off of his hand, Alden hesitated, adding something more to them. Rather than deflect them with his blade, he followed each of the three needles with his enhanced sight. With his extreme body control, he effectively dodged each one of the needles thrown at him. Once finished, he dashed diagonally left at Alden, then took a hard side step to the right and dashed forward again in the same way as before. By doing this he created afterimages of himself in different locations and with his speed, he'd created many. He awaited his opponent's next move, continuing to run in this same pattern until the time was right. Alden kept his eyes on his opponent, it was quite clear that he was trying to dupe the man. The man kept all of his senses keen, waiting for the boy to make a move. Alden knew better than to rush in and make any sudden movements, and the best thing to do would be to wait until the boy came to him. There was no rush whatsoever, it wasn't even like he wanted to beat the kid up. If he made any moves, Alden would be ready to counter them. Being cautious was the key, overthinking or overstepping even an inch, could cost Alden his life and it seemed he slowly came to understand that. "Oh, now he's taking this seriously?" The young swordsmen thought to himself as he began to lower himself as though he'd been squatting. "Very well then, it's settled..." While squatting, Dexter brought the blade of his sword across his chest and underneath his armpit as though he'd been charging an attack. "I'll show you the true power of my Meito, Tenrairyu." The very winds around began to change their flow, diverging themselves towards Dexter as he'd taken on his new stance. Dexter became aware of everything, mostly the things pertaining to his opponent. He caught the man's breathing pattern, could hear his heartbeat, and could almost feel his thoughts. Kicking from the ground lunging himself forward at Alden, he remained in his stance but waited for the perfect opportunity when he got close enough. The black haired man kept his eyes on his opponent's movements. He was careful about activating his rejection too soon, aware of the boys motions and going over some of the outcomes. If it was an easy slice towards his front, he could easily reject it. If it were a dupe and the strike ended up near his back, he would have to keep enough concentration to be able to reject it. Alden seriously didn't want to hurt this kid, he just needed to make him tired and give up eventually. Keeping his movements small and purely about dodging and defense is the best course of action, especially since Hastings is still around, he couldn't risk this crazy kid trying to kill his best friend. Alden waited for the boy to make a strike, and having to make sure that his rejections wouldn't back fire on the kid and possibly make him more irrational than he already seemed.